Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2010 May;125(5):997-1002.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-2728. Epub 2010 Apr 12.

The effectiveness of baby books for providing pediatric anticipatory guidance to new mothers

Stephanie M Reich  1 , Leonard Bickman, Benjamin R Saville, Joann Alvarez
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The effectiveness of baby books for providing pediatric anticipatory guidance to new mothers

Stephanie M Reich et al. Pediatrics. 2010 May.

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether embedding pediatric anticipatory guidance into books read to infants is an effective way to educate low-income, first-time mothers about injury-prevention and health-promotion practices.

Patients and methods: Primiparous women (N = 168) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: an educational-book group; a noneducational-book group; or a no-book group. Knowledge of anticipatory-guidance topics regarding children from birth to 12 months of age (eg, injury prevention, parenting, nutrition) was assessed during the third trimester of pregnancy and again when infants were approximately 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months of age.

Results: Women in the educational-book group scored consistently higher on knowledge than did those in the other 2 groups. Those in the educational-book group were found to have significantly higher knowledge scores than those in both the noneducational-book group (effect size [ES]: 0.3, P < .001) and the no-book group (ES: 0.3, P < .001) in the longitudinal model.

Conclusions: Books read by mothers to infants seem to be an effective way to provide anticipatory guidance to new mothers. However, future work is needed to determine if increased knowledge translates into safer and more developmentally appropriate parenting practices.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Gardner HG, Committee on Injury VaPP Office-based counseling for unintentional injury prevention. Pediatrics. 2007;119:202–206. - PubMed
    1. Macknin ML, Gustafson C, Gassman J, Barich D. Office education by pediatricians to increase seat belt use. American Journal of Diseases of Children. 1987;141:1305–1307. - PubMed
    1. Bass J, Christoffel K, Widome M, Boyle W, Scheidt P, Stanwick R, et al. Childhood injury prevention counseling in primary care settings: A critical review of the literature. Pediatrics. 1993;92(4):544–550. - PubMed
    1. Regalado M, Halfon N. Primary care services promoting optimal child development from birth to age 3 years. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 2001;155:1311–1322. - PubMed
    1. Bethell C, Peck C, Schor E. Assessing health system provision of well-child care: The promoting healthy development survey. Pediatrics. 2001;107(5):1084–1094. - PubMed

Publication types